Two prizes were awarded to cycling yesterday evening at the 34th Gala Sports-Québec: road cyclist Simon Lambert-Lemay (Longueuil, QC) as Athlete of the Year (men's category), and a Tribute prize to Tour de l'Abitibi's Claude Pagé.

16 years old, a Longueuil, QC resident, Club André Cycles/idCAD member

Coach: Pierre Lemay

Best espoir racer at the Mardis cyclistes de Lachine for a second consecutive year, Simon Lambert-Lemay also holds the course record in the junior category, being the leading figure of the Quebec cycling scene with 38 podiums and 30 victories. He has also been dominating the junior category and, as an out-of-class rider, won 6 podiums out of 15 races. In his first participation at the Tim Hortons National Road Cycling Championships, he won the criterium event and finished 4th in the road race event, ahead of many of Canada's best junior road cyclists.

Sports-Québec also awarded Tour de l'Abitibi's Claude Pagé the Maurice prize in the Jacques-Beauchamp / Journal de Montréal Tribute category.

Over the past 26 years, M. Pagé has been Executive Director of the Tour de l'Abitibi, the only junior Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) World Cup stage in North America. M. Pagé has been one of the key people in helping the event - also known as "Junior Tour de France" - achieve international recognition. Under his leadership, the Tour opened up to other countries. From 1982, M. Pagé encouraged the promotion of the Tour in Europe at World Championships events, which soon resulted in the participation of all continents, 35 countries in total. In 1991, he convinced the President of the Technical Commission of the UCI to organize a world cup event for junior riders. All his efforts paid off in 1994, when the Tour de l'Abitibi became the only North American stage of the newly created Junior UCI World Cup. Before he left the organization in 2005, he ensured the durability and future of the Tour by asking the City of Val d'Or to become the permanent host venue of this exceptional event, which promotes the entire Abitibi-Témiscamingue region.